It’s been 18 years since a Canadian NHL team won the Stanley Cup and I would be willing to wait another 18 if it meant the Vancouver Canucks didn’t win it this year. Since the Montreal Canadiens won the Cup in 1993, four Canadian teams have made it to the finals and come up short which includes the Canucks in 1994. On all four occasions, I rallied behind these Canadian teams that were full of character and heart vying to bring the Cup back to Canada. In the past, the last Canadian team standing in the playoffs has assumed the temporary title of “Canada’s Team” but this years addition of the Canucks is making it difficult for me to adopt them as “My Team”.

The Canucks are an unbelievably skilled and fast team who collectively make a nightly appearance on the highlight reel. For the most part they do play hard but the element of this years Canucks that makes me unable to jump on their playoff bandwagon is that they react soft. The character that this team establishes through their physical and aggressive play is nullified every time Ryan Kesler or Alex Burrows dives or flops on the ice after they’ve been touched in a post whistle scrum like they just had their balls ripped off.

As for the rest of the team, there isn’t one player on the Canucks entire roster that seems charismatic or interesting enough to want to sit down and have a beer with. The Canucks are the epitome of Team Nerd. They are captained by an uninteresting Tony the Tiger look a like and backstopped by what appears to be a bottle of Crisco with a mask on. I’m not sure either the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning will be much of a match for the Canucks in the final but I’m ready to put my support behind either one if it means the Canucks don’t win the Cup this year.